How to make Webcam compatible with Skype.

Although some webcams work on Linux Mint with Cheese and other webcam apps, they do not all work out of the box with Skype . You may have a green screen when you access your video on skype or no video at all. This issue is down to the video 4 linux libraries (V4L). By default the current library is V4L2, to make your webcam work with Skype if you have this problem, requires the preloading of V4L to make it compatible or V4L2 conversion.

Listed below is a simple and quick way to get your webcam up and running with Skype.

I'm using gedit as my text editor, if you use a different one just substitute gedit for the editor of your choice.

Firstly open Terminal.

Copy and paste the line below into the Terminal and press Enter.

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype

This will open your editor with a blank text file, copy and paste the following lines into your blank text file.

Use lines below for x86(32bit)

#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

Use lines below for x64(64bit)

#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

Save the file and close it.

Now to make the file executable, copy and paste the following line into Terminal.

sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skype

Press Enter and close the Terminal, start Skype and webcam works.

Now your webcam is working you can optionally (to improve the quality of your webcam picture), install v4l2ucp(video for linux 2 universal control panel) from the Software Manager.

Type "v4l2ucp" in the search box and then select it.

Click "Install".

After installation go to

Menu> Preferences > Video4Linux Control Panel

This will allow you to adjust the Contrast, Gamma, Auto Gain and Sharpness of your video. Simply click "Preview" and adjust the sliders to suit your requirements.

If your webcam has a built-in microphone, to set it to default for use with Skype, go to

Menu> Preferences > Sound

Click on the input tab and select your webcam microphone from the choices listed for input devices.

(Make sure microphone volume is not muted).

If Skype crashes when starting video during a call, do the following.

Make a Skype call without starting your video, get the person you are calling to start their video, you should now see a light blue video icon appear at the bottom of the Skype call window.

Click on the video icon and change the video size from "Normal Size" to "Double Size"

Now start your video. (Please note that this is more of a workaround than anything else, if the person you have called stops their video before you, then Skype will crash)

As an alternative if the above fix does not work try using the lines below instead.

I found it working on my machine (quick 'n easy after tryin for hours unsuccessfully) :

Preloading v4lcompat

Some webcams require the v4lcompat driver to be preloaded. It does not ship out of the box with new versions of ubuntu. You will have to install the driver package with aptitude and then modify the Skype launcher to preload the driver. Here's how:

sudo bash apt-get install libv4l-0:i386

Now edit the skype launcher to preload the driver. If you are using xfce:

Tried the LD_PRELOAD recommendation in it's various forms. This used to work for me in previous versions of mint, but no luck since I upgraded to Maya. My video will go crazy after about a minute into the call, freeze then return scatter.

Have old logitech, not sure model.

In the Video4Linux Control Panel;
Change the setting for 'Light Frequency Filter' from 'NoFliker' to '50Hz' and it is working like a charm.

Very Happy. Can talk to family again. Took me 2years to get them using Skype, Easier to fix mine than get them to use another peice of software. the to use another

Langian, I have the same problem. On my laptop, skype works great with my built-in cam & Mint 14 or 15. At work I have a video capture card hooked up to a camera, and the older Mint worked, then something happened when I upgraded both Mint and Skype (kernel upgrade to 3 in there too). /dev/video0 feed works for TVTime, Cheese, etc. and skype shows my video capture card as an input, but no "test" button like on my laptop.

The best solution: get your friends to use SIP instead. Even Google Hangout would be an improvement.

The Logitech Quickcam Express camera is a software zombie, even in Windows, for which it was made (error messages show up for the default drivers & the updates in W7, even when the thing works, displaying its crappy image). Don't waste your time with it. It's a shame that Linux's reputation ends up suffering because of such crap. Down with zombieware!

Same path might work on 32 bit as well or just run a "locate v4l1compat.so" to find the new path. It would be great if someone, or author himself were to update this tut, it is the first place i found on a google search so should be correct

Good Info Frank,
I have only got Lisa on my pc atm. I gave Ubuntu 11.10 unity away as it kept on freezing tries (many cures).
Anyway the only issue I have with Lisa is the webcam in skype. Cheese will show on desktop but not in skype. Two Scenarios : its me or its me

Went thru all the above but no go. An assist would be great from anyone.

Worked perfectly in my grampa's ubu 12.04 beta, with a Logitech Quickcam Express, which has no support for Linux or Mac. Later I offered him a Creative Webcam Live Cam Socialize L8, which is dirt cheap, has a fantastic picture and works out of the box (support for Linux clearly stated). I kept the Logitech thing and repeated this solution in my Mint Katya & everything is OK. Let's give back to these companies that treat Linux with respect (& forget the rest). Thank you so much, frankenstein, for you clear and detailed tutorial. Admirable generosity.

thanks, it was super! in three minutes my webcam from medion-laptop, tuned to T7300 and 4gb ddr2, is running under ubu 10.04 64bits under skype 2.2.0.35!! as soon as possible i test mint under virtual-os bts

Hi,
I tried the ideas proposed here but failed to get my Logitech C510 to work with Skype on Linux Mint 11. Googling for a while took me to the following site https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam and it solved my problem. I am again a happy Mint user.

Hi
Im having problems using video cam from my laptp i have a built in cam ,is funy at times works fine then at times it says that i have no cam installed ,im using linuxmint (10) julia Gnome if that make any sens im new to this any body can help ?

This has turned out to be an increasingly user friendly guide. The illustrations added should help us new Linux users to understand and learn how the system is organised. Just as you run through it with me showed me a lot.

This is a great tutorial. It delivered and I even can use the Microsoft cam. Thanks for your detailed tutorial, that even this newbee could understand. I wish there was a tutorial on getting this same cam to work on Linux Mint in general. Keep up the great job frankeinstein!

I clicked back to this tutorial again, and it has even been made better - wow! This to me as a newbee, is the standard to what I will work to, should I ever write a tutorial. An awesome job.

Thank you very much!After installing Isadora(I used Gloria before),my webcam Genius stopped working with Skype but it worked with Cheese app.Since I am not computer wizard,I would never find solution,thank you again!And now I even have much better video quality than with Gloria.